Espen Uhlen Jørstad · @UhlenPoker
29th Aug 2022 from TwitLonger
The following post is regarding a swap dispute with community member Alex Theologis, aka Pwndidi.
After having a pretty uncomfortable experience a couple of days ago, it became clear to me that this is a situation that needs addressing before the rumour mill gets going. I’ll get back to the mentioned incident at end of this text, but first I'll describe the specifics of the swap dispute.
On the 13th of July (day 7 of the main event), I got the following messages from Alex:
1: https://gyazo.com/97d18bd0704504c26e74a953bbf662e5
2: https://gyazo.com/fa05f42fddedbbe9ba68f462da574d49
3: https://gyazo.com/5c9429512172bfb951c6b88e652065cb
Alex also approached Patrick Leonard (Pads) around this time, saying that he had an awkward situation. He explained that he thought he had swapped with me, but could not find any evidence for the swap. Pads asked me about it, and I told him that I had no memory of ever swapping with Alex. By the time I was chip leader going into the final table, Alex had become certain that there was a swap in place. Fwiw I think this is probably a cognitive bias on his part and not something based on ill intent.
We go on to meet at a hotel in Vegas, and we talk about the situation. I explain to Alex that I have no recollection of swapping with him and that I have no records of it either. Whenever I swapped with people for the main (or any other tournament) we always confirmed it in a chat, and I also wrote it down in my own document to keep track. For Alex, I had neither.
Next part of the conversation below:
https://gyazo.com/751eb85ff10dfd3c33524e38f6aa6885
Key points:
- Before the main event we had only met twice, and we have never swapped in anything else.
- I have no recollection of swapping with him.
- I did not have it written down.
- He did not have it written down.
- We had nothing about it in our chat.
- For every other swap during WSOP I immediately wrote it down in my own document + confirmed in chats. I have to assume this is routine on his part too.
- Alex did not remember when or where we had this swap convo, or any other details about it.
I strongly believe that it is crystal clear that there is no swap. However, if the community disagrees with me, I’m happy to go to arbitration with Ike, Timex etc, and if they believe the swap is on I will happily pay Alex the 3%.
If anyone has comments I’m happy to hear them and I'll gladly answer any questions on the matter. I hold my own integrity in very high regard (which is why this situation is very frustrating to me). I’m sure anyone who knows me well will attest to this.
To go back to the situation I mentioned at the beginning… During a meet-up game I was playing in Cyprus two nights ago, a clearly intoxicated Irish fellow came up to my table and pointed at me, saying «pay the man his money, pay the man his money. You know what I’m talking about, pay him his 3%». He proceeded to get right up to me and said stuff like «do you want to discuss it outside??» etc in a pretty aggro manner, basically hinting there would be violence if I did not pay Alex. I calmly told him that «I’m not sure what you’ve heard, and from who, but I don’t owe Alex 3%.» I explained that my conscience was clean, and in the end he said he believed me, and walked off. Fwiw I have no reason to believe that Alex knows this Irish guy, and he probably just heard about the situation through the grapevine. I by no means think that Alex would want this situation to occur.
Regardless, it was a very uncomfortable situation, having a drunk aggro guy in my face «wanting to discuss it outside», and questioning my integrity and credibility in a public setting. It’s also not the first time I get approached with this, as I also got a DM on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, telling me to «pay Alex his 3%».
I'll give Alex the benefit of the doubt here, and I don't think he is trying to tarnish my rep out of spite or anything like that. He probably mentioned it to a couple of close friends in confidentiality, and then someone he told started spreading it. In any case, it’s important to me to tell my side of the story here, as people absolutely love gossiping about situations like this, and I don’t want it to get out of hand.